University’s Precision Health Inititative

Jul.10,2016

Indiana University’s www.iu.edu Precision Health Initiative (PHI) focused on patient-centered precision medicine therapies is the first recipient of funding under the university’s new $300 million Grand Challenges Program www.grandchallenges.iu.edu. The PHI will receive as much as $40 million from the Grand Challenges Program and receive up to an additional $80 million from the IU School of Medicine http://medicine.iu.edu.

The PHI will incorporate five research clusters across the university to focus on genomic medicine, along with cell gene and immune therapy, chemical biology, data and informatics sciences, plus psychosocial and behavioral needs.

The initiative will also develop computing tools to enhance medical care and analytic approaches to accelerate the rapid translation of lab-based precision health discoveries to benefit patients across the state.

New faculty members will be hired with new facilities to be built including a “CRISPR/Cas9 lab” to use for genome editing and a cell good manufacturing practice facility to enable advances in the treatment and prevention of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, kidney disease, and rare pediatric diseases.

Other specific goals are to:

Develop usable electronic family histories and genomics medical records for more precise and complete medical portraits of patients